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Mothsdevoted mom
Location: Los Angeles, CA
October 19, 2010 12:34 am
This little lady (or man) has been stationary for several days now on the outside of our house. I would normally think a bug that hasn’t moved for 4 days with such death grip is well, dead, but there are babies to protect, so I’m not quite sure. She’s a beauty! Any idea what she is?
Signature: Julie
Painted Tiger Moth laying eggs
Hi Julie,
It is the right time of year with the correct weather conditions for the Painted Tiger Moths, Arachnis picta, to be flying, mating and laying eggs. One was perched for several days on the door jamb of our Mt. Washington, Los Angeles offices for several days and she finally dropped dead without laying eggs. A pair was spotted this morning on the fence post near the chicken coop and they were in the act of mating, and this evening, there was a female depositing eggs on the front porch beneath the porch light. Nearly every year a female lays eggs under the porch light. After a week or so, depending upon the temperature, the eggs will hatch into tiny fuzzy caterpillars that will disperse and begin feeding on many weedy type plants that sprout after the first rains. The caterpillars are a typical Woolly Bear. Adult Painted Tiger Moths do not feed as adults. According to Charles Hogue in Insects of the Los Angeles Basin: “The mature larva is about 1 1/2 inches (40 mm) long and is densely covered with stiff black hairs; The head is black. The caterpillar feeds nocturnally on a great variety of weedy plants, including wild radish, Wandering Jew, and Acanthus. It hides during the day, sometimes retreating into the soil, and it rolls into a ball when disturbed, It develops during the winter and then is somewhat dormant (although active, it does little feeding) until late the following summer, when it pupates; on a warm fall evening, the adult emerges. Individual caterpillars occasionally pupate immediately after maturing and pass the summer in the pupal stage.”
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Comments 7
Hey! This was an informative post. I captured one of these little ladies because she was striking. She proceeded to lay about 300 eggs over a period of days. In fact she managed to escape from my container on the second night and laid some eggs high on a wall. I found her, thinking it was a different one, on the floor so I brought her back. Anyway it has been long enough, about a week and the little ones are coming out. I don’t know what they eat. And I don’t know their life cycle. I tossed in some mint leaves and blades of grass and the first batch of tiny caterpillars fell off the napkin where they had been laid onto the bottom of the container. What do your do? The ones which were laid on the wall near the porch light? Do they eventually drop/crawl to the ground to begin feasting on plants? Do these critters overwinter and where do the pupate?
Posted 24 Oct 2010 at 4:59 am ¶According to Charles Hogue in Insects of the Los Angeles Basin: “The mature larva is about 1 1/2 inches (40 mm) long and is densely covered with stiff black hairs; The head is black. The caterpillar feeds nocturnally on a great variety of weedy plants, including wild radish, Wandering Jew, and Acanthus. It hides during the day, sometimes retreating into the soil, and it rolls into a ball when disturbed, It develops during the winter and then is somewhat dormant (although active, it does little feeding) until late the following summer, when it pupates; on a warm fall evening, the adult emerges. Individual caterpillars occasionally pupate immediately after maturing and pass the summer in the pupal stage.”
Posted 24 Oct 2010 at 7:48 am ¶Have you any experience with them? The little caterpillars emerged at the same time and remained within their cluster till I threw in some food in which they were knocked off the paper towel where they were laid. I have a second group that emerged late last night and are still in their cluster, about 20 hours post hatching. The first group remained in their cluster for at least 48 hours before they fell off. Many are feeding on the plants I threw in, some have climed up the eclosure.
Posted 24 Oct 2010 at 11:18 pm ¶the egg shell is the first meal. We have never raised any of the caterpillars.
Posted 25 Oct 2010 at 7:23 am ¶Okay then, we’ll see what happens!
Posted 25 Oct 2010 at 1:30 pm ¶Last year 1 Painted Tiger moth came and laid eggs on our front door. Now we have 3 but only 1 (could be same as last year) is laying eggs, for now. Once the caterpillars hatch they will fall onto concrete and have a long way to go to dirt . Can we carefully pick the eggs off the door (once mother is gone) into a small container then drop in the surrounding flower beds once hatched? Please advise.
Posted 06 Oct 2011 at 11:32 pm ¶The egg laying moth from this year is not the same individual as the one you had last year. The first meal of the caterpillar is part of its egg shell. Though it has some distance to wander, the newly hatched caterpillars are quite capable of finding food. You should not attempt to dislodge the eggs. They may get damaged. If you want to try to locate caterpillars that have hatched, handle them with care.
Posted 07 Oct 2011 at 8:11 am ¶Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.
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